Tamil Nadu's obsession for honorifics appears to be a never-ending story. The latest is the "Ezhuchi Nayagan" (rising leader) title for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's new interim general secretary K Palaniswami, proposed by the party's presidium chairman Tamil Magan Hussain in Chennai on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches against Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji and some others as part of a money laundering investigation and held multi-city searches, official sources said.
'As Karunanidhi and Ramadoss flagged the law and order issue, Subramanian Swamy said Home Minister Rajnath Singh should send Chief Minister O Panneerselvam a directive under Article 246 of the Constitution. Swamy also dangled the fear of Article 356 over the state government.'
A new political crisis is brewing in the VK Sasikala camp in Tamil Nadu -- differences between Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and party general secretary Sasikala.
BJP national secretary Bandaru Dattatreya on Monday said the AIADMK's 'gameplan' of fielding the widow of deceased legislator S S Thirunavukkarassu at Kancheepuram and the son of murdered MLA K Sudarsanam had resulted in the party's victory.
The faction led by O Panneerselvam will be referred to as 'AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma' and the Sasikala faction will be referred to as 'AIADMK Amma'.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who was admitted to a hospital in Chennai late Thursday night due to fever, is recovering and continues to be under observation.
Tamil Nadu is the celebrated home of the 'social justice' movement in the country, yet caste differences and violence has only been increasing in numbers and becoming more brutal in recent years, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'One quiver cannot have two different kinds of arrows.' 'The party cannot progress with two leaders.'
The indication was given by party supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a statement in Chennai.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers on Sunday organised poojas in temples and took out processions praying for a favourable judgement.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha member Su Thirunavukkarasar has decided to resign from the party and the upper House of the Parliament as he is all set to rejoin the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.Su Thirunavukkarasar said that he would take a final decision on the matter after he talked to senior BJP leaders L K Advani and Rajnath Singh. The 60-year old leader unsuccessfully contested from Ramanathapuram in the Parliamentary polls
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa was on Friday unanimously elected its legislature party leader, paving the way for her return as a chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the fourth time.
Sources said there was no need 'immediately' to look into legal aspects or consider anything else (such as the possibility of political interests over the dismissal and a counter-strategy to frustrate it), as the dismissal was now on hold.
The single-phase polling for 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu on Thursday will test the capabilities of ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, its rival, the Dravidra Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party, who hopes to ride on the Modi wave after drawing a blank in the previous two polls.
Panneerselvam, writing to Palaniswami said AIADMK workers have been incensed since opinions were expressed over single and dual leadership at a party meet on June 14.
The petitioner had contended that Sasikala was made general secretary by the AIADMK general council in violation of Rule 20 of the party by-laws.
In a letter to Murmu, Stalin said that Ravi has violated the oath of office he took under Article 159 of the Constitution, the government said in an official release.
Sasikala's brother-in-law M Palanivel and another relative Kaliyaperumal were expelled from AIADMK.
Given the politics behind it all, one possibility is for binding the governor to act according to the decisions of the state government and clarifying his position vis a vis bills and resolutions passed by the state assembly -- or, re-enacted if returned, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The DMK leadership may now have to deal with a demand for more seats from its Congress ally in the Lok Sabha polls, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
For the first time in the history of Rajya Sabha, its chairman and Vice President Hamid Ansari has permitted All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam -- a regional political party to initiate the FDI in retail discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The Delhi high court, on March 9, allowed Dinakaran's plea for allotment of a common symbol, preferably 'pressure cooker', and a name of his choice for the AIADMK faction led by him.
After Shah said Hindi is the most spoken language which can unite the nation as a common language, Tamil Nadu parties rallied against it.
'Sasikala definitely has an emotional advantage over the others, but there are very seasoned politicians with a strong support base.' 'For the time being, they may toe her line.'
Fighting as an independent, Dinakaran was up against ruling AIADMK's E Madhusudanan and DMK's N Maruthu Ganesh.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday announced a three-member committee headed by state secretary N Varadarajan to discuss seat-sharing with its new ally All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Taml Nadu.
The party's general secretary, E Ahmed, said, "The IUML is quitting the AIADMK front and is prepared to swim or sink with the DMK."
In yet another instance of his confrontation with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam dispensation in Tamil Nadu, Governor R N Ravi on Monday concluded his customary address to the House within a few minutes, making certain remarks over the content of the address that were 'expunged'.
DMK leader MK Stalin is concerned that a no-trust move would force the EPS faction to patch up with not only the OPS group but also the TTV camp and also get the 'Two Leaves' poll symbol unfrozen, which could upset his party's electoral apple cart, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
OPS said Jayalalithaa had turned the AIADMK into 'an iron fortress which cannot be shaken by anyone'.
Assembly Speaker M Appavu said leaders of the two AIADMK factions submitted him 6 letters, including 4 from Palaniswami, asking for separate seating arrangement in the Assembly for their respective members.
Most politicians and even non-politicians have been honoured because of what they were purported to be electorally worth for the ruling party of their time, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala also lashed out at the Congress, her party's arch rival Dravida Munnnetra Kazhagam, and the Bharatiya Janata Party over failure to conduct the sport.
On various occasions, the leaders of the two faction have maintained that they no longer have differences.
Though the show cause was issued in May, the order came after three months.
'It could backfire on the BJP and boost the Opposition parties.'
The plight of Sri Lankan Tamils on Monday found an echo in the Lok Sabha with All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam members seeking to embarrass a visiting Lankan Parliamentary delegation by raising slogans which was denounced by Speaker Meira Kumar.
The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has bagged a Mayor's post and is leading in all ten corporations including Chennai as counting of votes polled during the two-phased Tamil Nadu civic polls on October 17 and 19 was taken up on Friday.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi said on Sunday that it has decided to snap ties with the front led by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa.All was not well in AIADMK-led front after Jayalalithaa recently gave permission to her party MLA C V Shanmugam to file a case in a court seeking to direct the police to include PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss and his son and former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss in a murder case.